Category: FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2021

From Pastor’s Desk is a weekly admonition to believers! It has the purpose of weekly edification of the saints, preparing them for a fruitful walk with God every week

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

When you need to move on | Pst. J.O. Lawal

from pastor's desk

Date: December 26, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 34

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to the last week of the year. And I pray that your heart will be equipped and strengthened by the Spirit of God to move from where you are now to where God wants you to be in the year we are moving into. Amen.

When the children of Israel came close to entering the land of Canaan, which God had promised to their forefathers, He said this to them through Moses: “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and to their descendants after them.”” (Deut 1:6-8NIV)

What was the first thing the Lord brought to the notice of those Israelites? It was that they had stayed long enough where they were and needed to move on. That means God is interested in our advancement. He is interested in our progress and success in life. He does not want us to be stagnant in life or to be satisfied with too little when we could have more. So, if our lives have been stagnant and have not experienced much progress or advancement this year or in the last couple of years, we need to reach out for Him to intervene and show us what is wrong or why this has been so. But to assume or conclude that it is His will for us to be stagnant in life is to totally miss it.

As we see in the case of those Israelites that He brought out from Egypt, there came a time in which He told them plainly that they needed to move on. But where were they to move on to? It is easy to determine to move on in life. But it is not every time that people move on that their movement results in true progress or comfort. It is only those who move on in accordance with God’s purpose for their lives that will find their moving on rewarding.

So, if you see yourself as having stayed too long where you are and in need of moving on, don’t just move on in any direction that you please. Instead, see to it that you move on in line with God’s purpose for your life. And if God has already made His purpose known to you about the need for you to move on and where to move on to, then, lose no time to do so.

Again, as we see in the case of those Israelites, it was God that told them that it was time to move on. Also, it was He that told them where to move on to. And where were they to move on to? It was the land that He had promised to their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, that they were to move on to occupy. Unfortunately, though God had said that the time had come for them to possess this land and that He had already given it to them, they refused to go in at that time and possess it. Therefore, they ended up using the next forty years of their lives wandering and perishing in the wilderness, without possessing and enjoying what had already been given to them. (Cf. Num 13-14; Deut 1)

Now I am sure you do not want to use the year we are about to move into wandering through life without possessing or enjoying what God has prepared for you. So, you need to be ready to move to possess whatever God has already told you is yours to possess. There may indeed be giants in the land. But as long as God has already told you that it is yours, just go in and take possession of it, for He will certainly take care of all the giants there for you. Then don’t just move on to take of anything simply because you feel you could. Instead, through prayers, meditating on God’s word and seeking godly counsel make certain that whatever you are going for is what God has chosen for you. That will not only keep you from wasting your labour and devotion on what will never work, it will also make it possible for you to enjoy whatever you possess. And may the Spirit of God lead and strengthen you to do what is right about this matter, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy new year in advance.

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

Remember to do them good | Pastor J.O. Lawal

Pastor J.O. Lawal
Pastor J.O. Lawal

Date: December 12, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 32

Beloved: grace and mercy be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of December 2021. I pray that God will open your eyes in it to see all the good you are supposed to do for others in the year that you are yet to do and also enable you to do it without delay, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I offered that prayer for you because it is in line with the will of God for you. In other words, just as it is His will that all those who are meant to do you good this year will remember to do so, it is also His will that you too will remember all those that you are supposed to do good to this year and do whatever good you are supposed to do to them or for them. Therefore, our desire must not just be for others to remember to do us good; rather, it must also be for us to remember to do others good. And there are people that God is expecting us to remember to do something good to. It may be because of certain roles that they or someone related to them have played in our lives in the past. Or it may be because we are just in the best position to help them.

For example, here is what is written about David concerning this matter: “David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”” (2Sam 9:1NIV) Why did he ask this question? It was because he remembered Jonathan, his friend. In fact, Jonathan was more than a friend to him; he was a brother as well. When he was alive, he loved him with all his heart and did all that was in his power to protect him from his wicked and jealous father, Saul.

But then, he died because of the sins of his father, and the kingdom was taken away from their family and given to David. So, at the time David was asking this question, nobody was paying any serious attention to what was going on in their family again. They had become a history to everyone. If David, then, had not made any move to find out if he could be of any help to them, they may never have gotten any serious help or attention in the land again. But by asking that question, he was able to learn that Jonathan actually had a crippled son that had been abandoned by almost everybody. And that was how the young man, Mephibosheth, was lifted out of the realm of shame and poverty and brought into the prosperity of the king. (Cf. 2Sam 9)

Now though we are not told how God rewarded David for doing this, bible accounts show us that, years later, when he was running away because of the rebellion of his son, Absalom, Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba, was one of those that God used to supply him and his men food. But what if David had not allowed God to use him to lift them out of poverty and shame at the time he did, would the man have had anything to support him in his own days of misery? Even if they had something to support him, would they have thought about him at all, when he had not remembered them or done anything good for them when it was in his power to do so? It was very unlikely. (Cf. 2Sam 16:1-4)

So, if there are people you are in a position to support or do some good to now, and there will be such people, lose no time to help them in whatever way you can. That is because you may not be able to tell how God will reward you for the good you are doing to them today or when the good you are doing to them today will open a door for you too to receive some form of kindness that money or position cannot buy.

Do have a splendid week.

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2021 Pastor's Desk

Use it for appreciation | By J.O. Lawal.

Date: December 05, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 31

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. It gives me great delight to welcome you to the last month of this year, the month of December 2021. And I pray that your life and home will overflow with gladness and peace all through it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, as we come to this very last month of the year, I want to admonish you to use it to appreciate God and all the people He has used to bless you in one way or the other in the year. Why do you need to appreciate God? First, it is because that is His will for you (1Thess 5:18). The will of God is that everyone living in the world that He created and enjoying His provisions there would show themselves grateful to Him, regardless of the circumstances in which they find themselves. So, even if certain things are not working well for them in the world at the moment, they still need to learn to be thankful to Him for those things that are working well for them. That is because things could have been worse for them, if it had not been for Him (Ps 124).

Second, you need to appreciate God because it is what will open the door for you to receive more from Him and to also receive a perfection of what you have received from Him (Ps 50:23). See, whatever we have right now, however wonderful or unpleasant it may be, is not the best for us in this life. There is always something better in God’s hand, something beyond what our minds can handle or fathom (Eph 3:20). And until we learn to give thanks to Him for the gift of life and also for all the good things in our lives, we will not be showing ourselves as worthy to receive more from Him or to have Him perfect the things that are not working well for us.

So, instead of looking at the things that are not working well in your life and complaining about them, take out time to first consider carefully the things that are working well in your life and give God thanks for them. Remember that every good and perfect gift comes from Him. So, if anything is working well in your life at all, He is the one responsible for it. And you should acknowledge that and be truly thankful to Him for it. (Cf. Ps 103:1-5; Is 26:12; James 1:17)

Also, don’t allow yourself to get carried away because of the few good things God has done for you in life and forget to be thankful to Him. That is because there is always more to receive from Him. And if you will not be thankful for whatever He has already done for you, will you not be shutting the door to receive more from Him against yourself? Remember those ten lepers that Jesus healed. Only one of them came back to thank Him. Others were too excited to remember to come back and thank Him. And it was only that one man that came back to thank Him that received one more word of blessing from Him – your faith has made you whole. In like manner, it is only those who return to thank God this year end for all He has done for them in it that will receive more from Him and also a perfection of all He has done for them. (Cf. Luke 17:11-19)

How, then, do you show God that you are grateful to Him for all He has done for you this year? First, you show it by praising Him with your words, songs and dances (2Sam 6:14; Luke 17:15; Acts 3:8). Second, you show it by giving to Him. In other words, you give something for His cause, the cause of the gospel. So, if you have not deliberately done anything for the kingdom of God this year in appreciation of what He has been doing in your life, prepare to do so this month. Third, you show it by continually using whatever He has done for you to promote His righteousness.

Finally, as I pointed out before, it is not only God you are to appreciate this year end; you are also to appreciate all the people He has used to bless, protect or lift you up in the year. I know none of us can actually know all the people God has used or is using to make life better and safer for us. But there will always be some individuals that we can point to the remarkable roles they have played in our lives. And we should think of ways to appreciate them too. That is because if they had not yielded themselves to be used by God for us, certain exaltation or salvation we experienced in the year may probably have been delayed or postponed.

Now don’t make excuses about this. It does not always cost much to appreciate people, if we will learn to be thoughtful. So, be like David, who, in the day of his prosperity, sent gifts to all his friends that accommodated and provided for him during the time he was roaming about because of King Saul (1Sam 30:26-31). And may God abundantly supply you with all kinds of good things this December, so that you can be truly grateful to Him and to all the people He has used for you this year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Do have a great December 2021.

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)